MW Wendy's sales keep getting worse, as the stock sinks toward a 13-year low

By Tomi Kilgore

The burger chain beat quarterly earnings expectations, but the key same-restaurant-sales metric fell even more than feared

Wendy's stock fell toward a 13-year low after a key sales metric fell more than Wall Street had feared.

Shares of Wendy's Co. were falling toward the lowest price in more than a decade in early Friday trading, as fourth-quarter results show that the burger chain's problems attracting customers are getting worse.

A key sales metric that gauges traffic to the company's $(WEN)$ existing restaurants saw the biggest declines from a year ago in both its global and U.S. restaurants in more than five years. That contrasts with rival McDonald's Corp. $(MCD)$, which reported earlier this week the fastest sales growth in more than two years.

While the company sees global systemwide sales improvement in 2026, to be flat after the 8.3% drop in 2025, the full-year profit outlook was well below current Wall Street expectations.

The stock dropped 8% in premarket trading, putting it on track to open around the lowest prices since July 2013.

For the quarter to Dec. 29, same-restaurant sales, or sales of restaurants open at least a year, dropped 11.3% from a year ago in the U.S. That compares with the average analyst estimate compiled by FactSet of a 10.2% decline. It was also the biggest decline in more than five years, based on available FactSet data back to the third quarter of 2020.

The sales declines have accelerated in each of the past four quarters.

Global same-restaurant sales fell 10.1%, worse than the FactSet consensus of an 8.5% fall, and the biggest drop in more than five years. International same-restaurant sales fell 2%, but analysts were expecting a 1% increase.

Systemwide sales for the quarter, which includes franchisee results, fell 8.3% to $3.4 billion, while total revenue, which includes company-owned-restaurant sales, was down 5.5% to $543 million, to top the FactSet consensus of $537.2 million.

Net income declined 44.2% to $26.5 million, while adjusted earnings per share, which excludes nonrecurring items, of 16 cents beat the FactSet consensus of 14 cents.

For 2026, the company projects adjusted EPS of 56 cents to 60 cents, which is below the current FactSet consensus of 86 cents.

While the stock has been falling, as it has dropped 9.1% during the fourth quarter and 12.7% so far in the first quarter, Wendy's said it has not repurchased any shares over that time. The company still has $35 million available in its share repurchase program.

The stock has tumbled 50.8% over the past 12 months through Thursday, while McDonald's shares have gained 7.1% and the S&P 500 index SPX has advanced 11.7%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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February 13, 2026 07:57 ET (12:57 GMT)

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